The Godlee double telescopes (made by Grubb of Dublin), which have been in regular
use since 1903, are rather unusual although the precedent for this combination had
been set 16 years earlier, when Dr Isaac Roberts discussed with Sir Howard Grubb
the particular requirements of a large astrographic reflector subsequently erected
at Roberts' private observatory at Maghull near Liverpool in April 1885. Here, a
20" Newtonian designed for taking photographs at the prime focus was counterbalanced
by a 7" refractor for visual use.

On 10 October 1887 Dr Roberts became the first to photograph the spiral structure
of the "Andromeda Nebula" (as the Andromeda Galaxy was referred to, at that time)
using this instrument. The observatory was later moved to Crowborough, Sussex, from
where, in 1893, Roberts published his important 'Photographs of Stars, Star Clusters
and Nebulae'.

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Since 1946, members have had free access to the observatory which is equipped with
an 8" refractor, counterbalanced by a 12" Newtonian reflector. The refractor is used
mostly to view the moon and brighter objects, including the Sun projected as a 15"
disk onto a screen fastened to the tailpiece. Unfortunately, the location of the
observatory, close to the city centre, no longer permits good views of deep-sky objects
- if, indeed, it ever did.

The Godlee telescopes could therefore be regarded as a tried and tested combination
in which the City, members of the branch and, indeed, Sir Howard could have every
confidence. The ancillary 6" f/6 plate camera mounted on the refractor was an obvious
choice for wide field photography, particularly for mapping starfields and for comets.
Again there were precedents in the large number of short focal length astrographic
lenses of similar aperture in use at the time in America, some of which had been
supplied by Sir Howard after trial and error designs had been tested at Greenwich.

6” Plate Camera

Roberts' observatory

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The Godlee Observatory (and the telescopes therein) was presented to the City of
Manchester in 1903 by Francis Godlee. The tower which houses the observatory is a
well know landmark to commuters using the nearby Piccadilly Railway Station (although
few will realise what the building is used for).